Introduction
It is hard to overestimate the performance appraisal as a part of the employer-employee relationship. According to Mumtaz et al., “performance appraisal is one of the essential dimensions of an organizational performance management system to achieve employee and organizational outcomes” (p.3). Research for the topic was conducted as a part of the study of improving the annual appraisal. The improvement should lead to the successful career development of employees, stimulate the effectiveness of their work daily, and encourage both teamwork and cooperation between them. As such, articles which evaluate the performance appraisal and possible changes to their system make up the body of the current study. The study itself offers a practical idea to combine the usual appraisal system with learning procedures such as coaching.
During the analysis of the sources, it was necessary to balance out different points of view so that a synthetic conclusion could be reached. Contradictions mostly include the disadvantages of performance appraisal and its consistent loss of effectiveness. Thus, they raise the question of such a system should exist any further. However, since changes cannot happen immediately, it became apparent that the companies should keep it going now. On the other hand, while the system needs an unavoidable improvement, it contains several advantageous traits that can be put into practice along with modern tendencies. After reaching this conclusion, the next stage of research must have pictured methods of improvement in real-life conditions. They must showcase a concrete application of the said tendencies and their possibilities in the nearest future.
The Importance of Appraisal for Employers and Employees
This topic is presented for several professional reasons. First comes the connection to personal factors of being an employee in general. The prime responsibility of each employee lies in the care about the well-being of their colleagues, employer, and their company as a single organism. Not only the welfare but the progress of the company dramatically matters. Usually, the growth consists of searching for new methods for the organization to evolve, implementing them, summing up the results, and concluding the best way which works out. In the end, it allows choosing between the most innovative and, more importantly, the most effective methods that are guaranteed to succeed.
On the other hand, an unreasonable notion would be excluding the personal gain of both employees and employers. All of them are interested in their prosperity and conduct their work on this premise. The optimal conditions of the job usually inspire the staff so that they would strive for achievements more. The system for appraisal has always been dedicated precisely to the said goal. However, it becomes old-fashioned in several aspects, requiring fresh additions and renewal. So, the achievement of mutual gain does also plays a vital role in researching the theme.
Finally, the world as it appears now globalizes most of the tendencies of business management. As such, companies all over the world can view each other’s achievements and failures to learn and evolve in their fashion. This learning process has offered a vast base for the research, and it would not be wise enough if one does not fully use it for personal and collective benefit.
The Evolution of Annual Appraisal: How to Implement
Before the company could deploy the newly discovered methods of improvement, it is crucial to test them out and decide about the implementation. Thus, one should test on a smaller scale until it becomes reliable enough to practice it as a conventional means. Should it seem unconventional, it must be revised and modified until its use would justify itself.
It is known that the appraisal procedure can become stressful for the employees. Researchers note: “Donna Morris, Senior Vice President at Adobe, compared annual performance appraisal process similar to a dreaded appointment with a dental surgeon” (Sarkar, 8). For this reason, the main change in the appraisal system should be lowering the stake of “classifying” the employees and focusing more on the mutual benefit. Such benefit means providing the staff with opportunities to learn from each other instead of fearing the competition. The progress should gradually influence all the chain of command, starting from the lower ranks up to the higher. For example, a mid-ranked, socially active specialist in the field of electricity management must be placed into a small group (4-6) of recently employed yet qualified co-workers. To motivate the specialist in coaching the beginners, the head of the company must put his/her annual appraisal status in direct accordance with his/her coaching activity and the results of beginners. However, to avoid any pressure between the specialist and a group, the quality of the work must be more important than the quantity.
The results will determine if the system positively affects both sides and if the company should spread it throughout the chain of commands. It is going to become a gradual but unavoidable process when each employee can develop their career based on the success of their successors. The experiment will stretch on a time scale since it heavily depends on the specific department and their specialties, the quality of the work and ranks’ evolution may rise in the nearest 1-3 years ahead.
The Possibilities Opening Up
As already stated, the idea of appraisal-coaching correlation can lead to the drastic growth of employee’s quality and status. But, it is just one side of the coin if one considers all the options. Since the implementation stands as an experimental one, the staff must treat it with intensive care to avoid any deviations. However, on a scale more significant than just one field, its directions for development can transform into a limitless amount.
Some researchers emphasize the opinion that the appraisal system should be abolished entirely. According to Schultz, “there is no value to waiting for an annual or semi-annual exchange when the goal is to build a relationship” (17). It is only half-true in the current case since a radical change of appraisal system up to its abolishment is too extreme and unpredictable to use immediately. Thus, the balance between relationships and appraisal seems the smoothest version of the realistic reforming. In the long run, the reforming process can increase its scale and continue to move on. With the first idea put into use, the coaching procedure can be expanded through the addition of new employees in the higher-qualified group instead. It is only a basic example since it is possible to create even more variants. These include the build-up of individual relationships between different categories of staff, a multi-directional approach of several departments working on a linked goal, and a lot more.
The direct outcome does not only lead to an increase in quality. It can create a multi-tasking system of handling the management due to the decent qualification of employees in several departments. Moreover, the rise of appraisal is going to stimulate the employees to reach higher grounds. These grounds and skills would become a great help in increasing of company’s profit. Finally, the gain would positively influence both the salary and appraisal earnings, turning it into a circle of steady progress.
One’s Place in the Implementation
The creator of the idea must bear full responsibility for putting it into use. In the case of its realization, I should stand as a person who supervises the initial experiment and provides guidelines for both coach and trainees. Afterward, my responsibility would directly depend on the success of me and my subordinates since we are ought to succeed or to fail instead.
If there is an unfortunate chance it does not work up, I should take it as a personal loss and direct my efforts on developing alternatives or completely different ideas. None of them can 100% perfect, and only by experimenting can one understand its real value. Thus, either alone or as a part of the research team, I am going to continue the study to achieve more satisfying results.
On the other hand, if the idea goes straight as planned, I would surely stay as a guide to the employees working to embody it. Of course, I am going to keep the responsibilities in my current position, though the conducted process can serve my benefit as well. I am not an exception among many people who would learn from each other, so I would plan to improve my skills and career the same way as them.
Conclusion
To sum up, currently, the global tendencies of business development reach most of the fields where it operates. So, it is a perfect chance to learn new ways for the benefit of employees and employers alike. One of the tendencies includes the complete replacement of traditional annual appraisal. However, it does not mean the modern methods cannot be combined with the appraisal itself. The idea of coaching in-between the employees’ ranks is a decent demonstration of the balance. In the end, results might increase the quality, income, and effectiveness of employees and the entire company.
Works Cited
Mumtaz, Ali Memon, et al. “Performance Appraisal Satisfaction and Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement.” Management Decision, 2019. Web.
Sarkar, Anita. “Is It Time to Do Away with Annual Performance Appraisal System?”, Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 24., no. 3, 2016, pp. 7–10.
Schultz, John R. “To Improve Performance, Replace Annual Assessment With Ongoing Feedback.” Global Business and Organizational Excellence, vol. 34, no. 5, 2015, pp. 13–20.